Zwei Zigeunerinnen (Zigeunermutter mit Tochter). 1926/27.
Lithograph.
Signed in printing substrate. From an edition of ca. 5 copies. On wove paper. 69.4 x 51.5 cm (27.3 x 20.2 in), nearly the full sheet. [KA].
The "Zigeunermappe" (Gypsy Portfolio), as the "Zigeuner" series is known today, is Otto Mueller's last major graphic achievement. Severely ill, Mueller had high hopes for the completion of the portfolio and successful sales, which were unfortunately not fulfilled. From an economic point of view, the sale of single sheets was the preferred option. Even after Otto Mueller's death, this practice continued. Few portfolios have survived in their entirety and even fewer have made it onto the open market (see Ketterer Auction 227, fall 1998).
Otto Mueller worked on this series with special devotion. He was known for his love of the world of the Romani people.
“I'm very busy with the colored lithographs, they will be very beautiful. I've already finished two. I still have seven to go for the portfolio. This work is something completely new to me. Once I've finished a few, I'll send you proofs," Otto Mueller wrote to Maschka, his ex-wife from his first marriage (quoted from: Günther Buchheim, Otto Mueller - Leben und Werk, Feldafing 1963, p. 184). [KA].

• Famous motif from the “Gypsy” portfolio, Otto Mueller's last great graphic achievement.

PROVENANCE: Presumably Kunstsalon Hermann Abels, Cologne (around 1929, with a handwritten note on the reverse).
Dr. Heinrich Stinnes Collection, Cologne (with the colleion stamp Lugt 1376a on the reverse, presumably acquired from Abels in 1929).
Private collection Brandenburg (in second generation).

LITERATURE: Florian Karsch, Otto Mueller. Das graphische Gesamtwerk, Berlin 1974, no. 161/II A (of II B), p. 202 (illu.).

Sheet all in all slightly browned. Isolated small creases from the making.
Remnants of old mounting to the upper edge of the sheet. The right margin partly slightly compressed and with a small tear (4 mm). With barely noticeable horizontal creases, probably due to previous rolled storage. The lower right corner of the sheet with surface lesions. The overall impression of the sheet is not impaired.